Don’t expect FOX News to cover this story since it doesn’t contain sexy words like, “Solyndra” and “Obama.”
But Gov. Rick Scott (R/Tea) shot himself in the foot and might have to bite the bullet over the wasted $1.6 million paid to gun manufacturer Colt to bring jobs to Central Florida. The skilled manufacturing jobs, touted to earn an average $45,000 each, were promised and paid for in 2011. As of 2015, there are no jobs.
The victory was not welcomed unanimously, of course. Among the first to speak for the dyspeptic was Jeb Bush, Florida’s former governor and the GOP’s putative 2016 presidential frontrunner. It was Bush’s first campaign-related statement this year — and it did not go smoothly.
As a spate of new studies find positive results from the legalization of pot in Colorado and Washington state, including a dip in traffic fatalities in Colorado — and with Washington state accruing $3 million in taxes since pot was legalized in July, Colorado tallying $18 million in pot-tax revenue since January, including $7 million in July alone, and a projection that $3.1 billion in taxes would be collected if all 50 states legalized weed — voters in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. will decide whether to legalize marijuana on Nov. 4, and Floridians will decide whether to allow the sale of medical marijuana.
Vox.com has a round-up of the initiatives:
In case you missed it, check out the remarkable first start of the debate in the Florida governor’s race last night. Incumbent Republican governor Rick Scott, a billionaire, refused to take his place on the stage with his opponent, former Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican now turned Democrat, because Crist decided to have a small electric fan placed at his feet.
When asked why he wanted the fan at his feet, Crist said, “Are we really going to debate about a fan? Or are we going to talk about education and the environment and the future of our state? I mean, really.”
When Scott finally got over himself and the debate began, one of the moderators asked him why he’d held up the event, which was televised live in all 11 Florida television markets and on C-SPAN.
“I waited to see if he––’til––we figured out if he was going to show up,” Scott said, addressing millions of viewers who’d just seen Crist show up five minutes earlier and stand there alone on the empty stage. “He said he wasn’t gonna come to the––he said he wasn’t gonna come to the debate. So why come out until he’s ready?”
Poltico.com has a substantive account of the debate HERE.
What kind of TV ad does America’s most expensive governor’s race get for nearly $49 million (and counting)? Spots like this, which beg for new and stronger adjectives than the ones being used to describe it: “outrageous,” “demeaning,” “sexist,” and even, “laughable.”
The ad was produced, not by the Scott campaign, but by the College Republican National Committee (CRNC) on behalf of Florida Gov. Rick Scott. The increased “offshoring” of expenditures to outside groups like CRNC could explain why Scott is able to spend less this time around than when he bought his office in 2010 for $75 million of his own money. We can thank Citizens United for the ocean of cash and negative ads in every election since that 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Look at the numbers in the Florida governor’s race this year, and you’ll see how much even a well-known Democratic candidate like former Gov. Charlie Crist is being outspent.
Dear Dr. Democrat:
Question for you — who should I vote for in the upcoming Florida Democratic primary? I’m inclined to vote for state Sen. Nan Rich, but I’m not sure I should or if that would just be a wasted protest vote, as Charlie Crist looks to beat her in the primary. I think I should maybe vote for Crist except that Charlie has become this weird, über-repellent candidate who is, as media increasingly point out, almost as reprehensible as our incumbent governor, lower-than-a-snake’s-belly Rick Scott.
So, should I lodge a protest vote for Rich, assuming Crist will win the primary (though with a projected ultra-low turnout, it might could go either way) and then hold my nose and vote for Crist in the general? But what if Rich wins the primary (unlikely as it seems) and then gets steamrolled by Scott’s money-driven bulldozer?
The possibility of a second term for old Tales from the Crypt is truly frightening.
What’s a dedicated Florida Democrat to do?
Yours truly,
Cogitating in Coconut Grove
In case you missed it, check out this episode from a Republican-led House committee last week in which Rep. Curt Clawson from Bonita Springs, Fla., embarrasses himself, his family, his state, his party and the nation. It’s not just that he was completely and utterly wrong in his assumptions, his wrongness is compounded by the smug sneer he wears throughout his exchange with the witnesses.
As the Miami Herald put it: “Flori-duh Rep. Curt Clawson thinks U.S. officials of Indian descent represent Indian govt“:
The recent news out of Kentucky was just awful,
They found the senator unconscious and horizontal.
And since his hospitalization,
There’s been little news about his condition,
But now everybody’s having a 20-minute conversation with Mitch McConnell.
